Martin breaks losing streak, wins NASCAR Coca-Cola 600

Martin took advantage of Jimmie Johnson's rookie mistakes to win the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night, ending his 73-race winless streak that lasted two years. The victory gave Roush Racing its fourth straight win in NASCAR's longest race of the year.

Martin marked the occasion by sliding his car through the grass at Lowe's Motor Speedway, an old-school celebration that's grown outdated by the burnouts and smoking tires NASCAR's new stars have made popular.

"Those kids know how to do it, tear up the track like that, and I don't. I wasn't going to make a fool of myself," said the 43-year-old Martin.

NASCAR, however, said his car was an eighth of an inch below the minimum height requirement and that any penalties would be handed out Tuesday.

Precedent has been that the win and points will stand, with a heavy fine the most likely punishment.

So long as Martin gets to keep the trophy  and the $1 million bonus he earned from the series sponsor  he won't care.

"I don't know if I'm going to win another one, so you better believe I'm going to party all night," he said.

Martin, the anchor of Jack Roush's four Winston Cup teams, held off teammate Matt Kenseth over the final laps for his 33rd career victory.

Roush, recovering from serious injuries sustained last month in a plane crash in Alabama, also fielded winning cars in the spring race at Lowe's Motor Speedway for Jeff Burton in 1999 and 2001 and Kenseth in 2000. Martin started 25th and worked his way into the lead pack of cars early. He ran mistake-free laps while Johnson raced away from the field, waiting for any slip up from the rookie.

Martin got the breaks he needed when Johnson, who dominated the race and led 263 of the 400 laps, made two errors while on his way to a seemingly easy victory.

Running away from the field, Johnson bumped the lapped car of Hut Stricklin trying to pass. Stricklin spun out and Johnson had to hit the brakes to keep from plowing his Chevrolet into him.

Johnson, the pole-sitter, made it through, but it brought out a caution period with 42 laps to go.

Johnson was still the leader when the cars headed into the pits, but he overshot his stall and NASCAR made him back up  costing him precious time as the rest of the leaders beat him back onto the track. He came out in ninth, while Martin took over the lead.

"I had my fork dug into the cake and I was ready to take a big bite of it and the piece fell right on the floor," Johnson said. "I'm extremely disappointed to dominate like we did and a mistake on my behalf ruins it. That tells the tale."

With Johnson no longer a factor  and rookie Ryan Newman, winner of The Winston last week out of the race with a blown motor  Martin had to only hold off numerous challenges from Kenseth.

"He wasn't going to beat me in traffic, I would have wrecked that thing than just give it up," Martin said. "He could have beat me fair and square, but he was going to have to race hard. So I just stayed after it."

It was his fourth victory at Lowe's, tying him with Jeff Gordon for the most wins at the track among active drivers.

Kenseth was second and said he had the car to beat Martin if not for the traffic.

"I knew he wasn't going to let me win, he was in the gas, he always is," Kenseth said. "I had the better car, but I never could get up on him and he told me in victory lane I was going to have to spin him out to win."

Ricky Craven was third, followed by Ricky Rudd, Gordon and Tony Stewart. Johnson ended up seventh, Michael Waltrip was eighth and Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Robby Gordon completed double duty, racing in the 600 after finishing the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day. He finished eighth in Indy, flew to Charlotte and was in his Richard Childress-owned car for the start of the second race. But his Chevrolet was never a factor and he finished 16th.

"It was a long day, the biggest thing was the cramps," said Gordon, clearly drained. "I got a cramp in my right leg the final 30 laps that really slowed me down."

Stewart, who skipped the Indy 500 this year to concentrate on his NASCAR job, was one of the drivers eligible for the $1 million bonus if he won this race, but his Pontiac never even led a lap.

Rudd became NASCAR's Iron Man, breaking Terry Labonte's record for consecutive starts when he took the green flag for the 656th straight time. He was strong, too, leading 49 laps.

"I'm kind of a low-key guy, I just come to race," Rudd said. "To be honest, today doesn't feel like any other day. It's just another day at the office, as far as I'm concerned."